variants or less commonly life-or-death
: involving or culminating in life or death : vitally important as if involving life or death

Examples of life-and-death in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web My only real complaint was the subplot where a character spent a couple of episodes locked in a dungeon, but even that felt something of a piece with the rest of a show that does well balancing life-and-death action with quirky comedy. Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 14 Mar. 2024 The lack of security has made searching for food a life-and-death decision in Gaza City, where the World Health Organization says that 1 in 6 children are malnourished, and that patients in hospitals are dying from dehydration and malnutrition. Taylor Luck, The Christian Science Monitor, 12 Mar. 2024 Healthcare workers and anyone in any industry that deals with life-and-death situations have higher stressors in their daily jobs. Hanna Kang, Orange County Register, 20 Jan. 2024 Lawmakers debate difficult, life-and-death issues, said Sen. Kyle Mullica, a Thornton Democrat. Nick Coltrain, The Denver Post, 13 Jan. 2024 Taveras said the bill has life-and-death consequences for children and drivers involved in school bus crashes. Thomas Goodwin Smith, Baltimore Sun, 14 Feb. 2024 Related article Opinion: The life-and-death history lesson that doctors aren’t learning But another issue is how shortages are measured. Rae Ellen Bichell, CNN, 7 Feb. 2024 That necessities come first makes sense: These items can make a life-and-death difference in moments of crisis. Ayurella Horn-Muller, The Atlantic, 30 Dec. 2023 The party’s increasingly draconian efforts to control history prove the potency of this insurgency, which Xi sees as a life-and-death struggle that the party must win at all costs. Ian Johnson, Foreign Affairs, 19 Dec. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'life-and-death.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1804, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of life-and-death was in 1804

Dictionary Entries Near life-and-death

Cite this Entry

“Life-and-death.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/life-and-death. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

life-and-death

adjective
: ending in life or death : deciding which will survive
a life-and-death struggle

More from Merriam-Webster on life-and-death

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